Sexually Transmitted Diseases  >  Program Guidelines  >  Training and Professional Development

Program Operations Guidelines for STD Prevention
Training and Professional Development

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Sections on this page:

• PROFESSIONAL/CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
• Career Structure
• Other Developmental Experience Opportunities
• Mentoring
• Individual, Management, and Program Responsibilities

PROFESSIONAL/CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Though it is not anticipated that all programs have the need or capacity to develop a comprehensive career development structure, management should incorporate career management and staff development concepts to the extent possible.

Management is accountable for the effective and efficient use of human resources, which includes responsibility for developing and retaining a well- rained, competent work force. This should be accomplished through a career management system aimed at improving employees' performance. Career management may be described as the planned development and use of progressively higher levels of staff expertise within the organization to meet the goals and objectives of the program.

To support career development, the program should work collaboratively with the Department of Human Resources or the Department of Personnel to assure a system that provides the mechanisms used by management to recruit, hire, develop, manage performance, promote, discipline, and reward (pay, benefits, awards) employees. The system should provide for the description of required qualifications, duties, and performance requirements for each job level within given career fields in the organization and should include the processes needed to attain and move personnel through the career steps to meet an organizations staffing needs. A career management system should be developed to formulate clear guidelines, processes, and competency requirements for the acquisition, training, development, maintenance, and advancement of employees in all professions or occupations within the organization.

Career Structure

Before a program can develop the expertise needed to perform the essential functions of STD prevention, it must describe the composition of the workforce providing the essential STD related public health services to community members. All health care professionals, including staff and external partners, should be included in this description. The workforce should be categorized within specific career or professional fields of expertise or within occupations needed in the overall field of public health service. Examples of public health professions appear in Appendix A.

Wherever possible, programs should have a structure in place to encourage career development which involves a series of progressively higher-level jobs. These positions will require application of knowledge, skills, and abilities appropriate to the increased responsibilities. This structure should offer adequate promotion potential and incentives within the career tracks of the organization.

The program should also describe the functions, duties, and responsibilities required of personnel within each professional field for each job level, as well as the qualifications and performance requirements for each job level within the given career fields.

Programs should establish job competency requirements for different job levels within career fields. These are demonstrated skills in addition to knowledge needed to make an employee capable of effectively performing a given function. They are derived from job functions, qualifications, and performance requirements and are key to the development of expertise. Examples of competencies related to different public health functions appear in Appendix B.

A career or professional development structure for staff members should include clear career pathways that are essential to ensure a skilled, stable, sensitive, productive, and responsive workforce that contributes effectively to STD prevention policy and practice. A career pathway structure provides the program a clear outline and plan to address the needed expertise, the staff development requirements, and the potential sources for recruitment within the organization to meet program operation objectives. It also provides employees a clear picture of career opportunities within the organization.

Career paths, however, are not restricted to a given professional field. The knowledge base, skills, and tasks required of different professions may overlap at different points in a career progression, offering expanded opportunities for career advancement. This is particularly true at higher job levels when technical competency becomes secondary to managerial or administrative competency. As a result, it is important for program management to establish a comprehensive career management system considering pathways relating all possible career fields within the organization, recognizing opportunities for career mobility or advancement into different areas of expertise or professions, and supporting the development of additional qualifications or broader skills and knowledge in different functions required to bridge into new career fields.

The program should work with employees to design and maintain individual staff development plans that provide a variety of information, education, training, and developmental work experiences needed in a contemporary STD control program environment.

As staff members become proficient in the basic skills needed to perform STD prevention activities, their individual development should be further guided by a plan with development goals and objectives, including designated phases of development within the projected career, to stimulate professional growth. Depending on the occupation or profession, these phases of development may be defined by levels such as entry, intermediate, journeyman, senior or managerial, and executive. The plans should describe occupation or profession-specific competencies and identify specific training activities, academic education, information workshops, on-the-job development activities (e.g., rotational assignments and special projects) and self-development initiatives which support development of the skills and knowledge related to the competency requirements.

Individual Development Plans should provide employees with a comprehensive list of competencies needed for performing major tasks; should provide employees and their supervisors with a single-source reference to assist in determining appropriate training and prepare employees for more responsible positions; should assist supervisors in making effective use of scarce training resources by determining critical competencies and training courses; should enable employees to plan appropriate career training and development; and should develop and strengthen employees' professional qualifications and leadership abilities.

Other Developmental Experience Opportunities

Orientation and basic and advanced skills training are essential to staff development, but they do not encompass the total development efforts needed to develop a well-rounded public health workforce. The workforce should also be provided other developmental experiences such as information seminars, in-service information workshops, formal education, and experiential opportunities structured to support the development of the competency-related KSAs and overall job expertise needed to perform and advance through a career structure.

Developmental opportunities to perform advanced or cross-functional tasks should be provided to enhance staff members' overall expertise in STD prevention. Such career enhancement opportunities may include rotating assignments, temporary duty reassignments, and special projects.

Continuing academic career development opportunities at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels should be made available to staff members. The public health professional workforce lacks formal public health training and educational opportunities, particularly in the field of public health practice (Public Health Workforce). Schools of Public Health offer a source for formal academic education, with a focus on practical application in the following essential areas of public health practice: 1) development and implementation of information systems; 2) collection and use of epidemiologic and surveillance data; 3) design and implementation of community-based behavioral interventions; 4) community empowerment; 5) program planning; 6) program evaluation; 7) program management and administration; 8) design and evaluation of clinical health services; 9) public health policy development; and 10) public health marketing.

Programs should utilize medical and non-medical experts from internal staff, external partners, CDC, universities, PTCs, etc. These are good sources for technical information, in-service sessions, and training workshops to enhance workers' knowledge and understanding of and skills proficiency in specific aspects of STD Prevention.

Mentoring

One of the best ways to help a person fulfill his or her potential within an organization is through the mentoring process. Studies have shown mentorship to be related to career satisfaction and progress. The planned and structured guidance and sharing of knowledge and experience by effective supervisory or senior staff members can be a very important aspect in the program's development of junior staff members. A mentor, through repeated modeling and feedback, can shape a mentee's expectations, perceptions, and interpretations of certain behaviors of the organization. The result increases the mentee's self-efficacy and self-assurance with regard to role-specific behaviors, motivations, and job satisfaction. In contrast, there are few things as frustrating, particularly for creative and highly technical employees, as a supervisor who withholds information. Supervisors and senior staff members need to look past the belief that information is power and the fear of creating new competition. Management should reinforce the need to realize the positive aspects of mentoring that relate to greater productivity and efficiency. One of the greatest compliments that can be paid a manager is for their staff to succeed.

Effective, proactive managers who understand career development recognize that, for their employees to make progress up the career ladder, managers must continually nurture the personal development of those staff members who report to them. A work group with an approachable leader who encourages team effort and the sharing of responsibilities and problems openly can enhance mentoring relationships. Mentoring relationships, in turn, can contribute to positive intragroup associations (Correlates and Consequences of Protégé Mentoring, 1994). Managers should seek out such high quality supervisory personnel and staff members to serve in mentoring roles.

Selecting individuals to mentor is often a difficult task. Creating special relationships with individual team members can cause resentment and discord within the team. Sharing information and providing close guidance should not create the appearance of personal favoritism.

All team members should be given the opportunity to enter into mentoring relationships, provided given merit criteria are met. For example, employees could be required to meet the following criteria:

1. Time investment. It can often take a year or more for an employee to become comfortable with the culture of the organization. Choosing a mentee who hasn't had this exposure could result in early disappointment for both parties.
2. Performance. Identify an employee with a track record of consistently high performance combined with demonstrated technical or managerial competence.
3. Motivation. Search for those who demonstrate a willingness to learn, who are willing to take on extra or new tasks, and who can take direction from others.
4. Team building. Finally, a person who fosters a team atmosphere may be a wiser choice than the obvious self-promoter.

Not all situations lend themselves to the establishment of a true mentoring environment. Limited numbers of quality mentors or extreme worker hostility arising from the perception of inequitable treatment may not allow the process to be effective. Still, management should take steps to create an environment that recognizes the importance of sharing information, experience, and knowledge, and that establishes a structure to require such exchange to the extent possible (Jensen, 1995).

By communicating the consequences of behavior and the appropriate responses to work situations and by providing knowledge of an organizations expectations, structure, roles, culture, values, rules, and norms, mentoring can enhance a mentee's sense of competence and effectiveness and offset organizational factors that contribute to alienation (Correlates and Consequences of Protégé Mentoring, 1994).

Individual, Management, and Program Responsibilities

Responsibility for an effective career or professional program rests with employees, management, and the organization. Employees must determine what they want their career to be; assess their aptitudes, strengths, and development needs with their supervisor; work with their supervisor to develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP); and work with their supervisors to schedule appropriate on-the-job training, required formal training, and development activities.

Managers must support the development and training of their subordinates; determine the job-related knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences needed by employees to effectively accomplish the work of the organization; counsel, coach, and guide employees in their professional development planning; and help the employee define short- and long-term development and training needs.

Programs must assure an organizational structure exists that supports the required knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience development of its employees and must provide resources, including dollars and time, for development to occur.

 

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